UIC Theatre skewers gentrification with ‘Clybourne Park’

“Clybourne Park” offers both prequel and sequel to “A Raisin in the Sun” in a UIC Theatre production opening Feb. 21.

WHAT:
Derrick Sanders, assistant professor of theatre, directs UIC acting students in “Clybourne Park,” Bruce Norris’ portrayal of white flight and gentrification as they play out in one Chicago house.

DETAILS:
This Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play begins in 1959, when white Chicago homeowners fearing “white flight” try to stop their neighbors from selling a bungalow to a black family — specifically, the Younger family, whose decision to buy the house was chronicled in “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry.

In the second act, 50 years later, black neighbors try to stop a white family from buying the same house, now a potential teardown in an all-black neighborhood targeted for gentrification.

The New York Times called the play in its 2010 world premiere “a spiky and damningly insightful new comedy.”

Tickets to all productions are $16 for the general public, $14 for UIC faculty and staff, and $11 for UIC students. To order, call (312) 996-2939.

Derrick Sanders, director

About the director: Derrick Sanders was assistant director of Broadway productions of August Wilson’s “Radio Golf” and “Gem of the Ocean.” He initiated Chicago’s participation in the national August Wilson Monologue Competition for high school students, and was founding director of Congo Square Theatre. Recently, he directed three plays for Chicago Children’s Theatre at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts: “Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money,” “Bud, not Buddy” and “Jackie and Me.”